Drought 2014

We have been on drought watch in the sunny state of California!

 

 

We have enjoyed 70 degree weather and sunshine! Our boys wear shorts to school on a daily basis and usually leave the house without sweatshirts. Yes, it IS January.

 Don't get me wrong, the weather has been fantastic but the thoughts of NO water this Summer are frightening! My friend Melinda K. said it best, "Without rain, Summer will be a bummer!"

 

The nightly news has had a drought watch, counting the days and reminding us just how many days it has been since we have had rain.

Well, this little happy post showed up in my Facebook Feed today.  YAY!  We are indeed  receiving the much needed rain! I am loving it! If I had not been confined to my bed last week(down with the flu) , I would have tucked myself in there today and read the day away!

 

 

 

We need continued prayers (rain dances, chants, etc... )for moisture. Please keep us in your prayers. We are hoping to see many more days filled with rain! Bring it on!

Character Counts

Brody and a few of his classmates received the Character Counts award for Responsibility today!

Mrs. T had nothing but wonderful things to say about Brody. She talked about how he comes to school, ready to learn and to do his work. She doesn't ever have to tell him what's next, he's always  ready! She said that he is a BIG helper when it comes to cleaning up and putting things away. We are super proud of Brody and his love for school and how hard he works.

 

Hot Shots basketball

Hot Shots basketball season is in full swing. All 4 of our boys are playing, again. You can pretty much find us on the courts every Friday night/Saturday morning for games  and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings for practices. John is coaching Carter and Brody's teams. He is in heaven. This is his sport and he is thrilled that his boys love it, too!

 

Here are  few pictures of  the littles. Brody is # 3 and tears it up on the court. He runs and runs and runs some more! He knows how to play defense and I love watching him do so. He has a great shot and he is also really good about passing to his teammates.

 

The blurry action shots are my favorite right now. You can see/feel  through the photo how fast they are moving!

 

 

 

Garrett is sporting #14 this season! It was all about the Kevin Durant neon basketball shoes this year. Garrett is fast and is playing point guard. He landed on a team with some of his old Select soccer team buddies and is loving it!

 

 

100th day of 1st grade

Today is the 100th day of school. First grade is so much fun!

Brody came home sporting this "100" headband. It was also the 100th day of school for a couple of our other boys. Let me just say that they did not come home sporting a 100th day of school headband!

 

 I can't stand the cuteness and don't want him to grow up!

W.I.W.S. 2014

For fun, here are a few of my January What I Wore Sunday outfits!

 Grey skirt is from New York and Co.

Cream shirt is from Down East Basics

Grey and Cream stripe sweater is from Target(Clearance for $10.00)

Grey heels are Nine West

 

Cardigan is from Pink Slate Boutique(First order from them and I love it!!!!)

Cream shirt is from Down East Basics. These fitted t-shirts have become a staple in my wardrobe.

Denim skirt is from Old Navy and the brown boots were found at Ross (last season).

 

 

fifteen

Happy 15th birthday to Tanner.

As we were celebrating, eating birthday cake Tanner and telling him what we loved about him, something dawned on us. In one short  year, Tanner will be able to drive. He will be able to date(double date). He will also need to have his Eagle Scout Award completed. We are seriously hoping that this is one of the longest year of our lives. We are not rushing any of those things except maybe the Eagle award!

 

Birthday highlights:

His bedroom door was decorated and filled with the things he loves. Okay, so maybe he did not love the new church socks... but they were needed.

 

He played some football at the park with friends and called it The Tanner Bowl.

 

We tried to tell him that we had bought him two 50 lb. puppies for is birthday and that was all he was getting. The puppies were actually on loan while we watched them for our friends.

 

Presents. I think his favorite was the gift card to Best Buy so he could get the headphones he wanted.

Dinner at Costa Vida...his pick. Someone told him to live outside the box and pick something different. I am glad he picks what he likes. After all, it is HIS day and not theirs!

 

 

  We ended the night with cake, ice cream and the Happy Birthday song! Super FUN!

One Little Word - 2014

I love starting the new year of with a word that I would like to focus on. I have done this in years past.  I kind of struggled to pick my One Little Word this year. A couple of words were being tossed around and I thought about them a lot.  I follow Big Picture Classes on Instagram. I believe(could be wrong) that this a photo/word by Cathy Z.. She is focusing on a word, a week.  Her very first word for the first week was Needed. This one little photo/word spoke to me. It was clear what my One Little Word would be.

 

My 2014 word is NEEDED(as in do what is...). My goal this year is to focus on what is needed and not to stress, worry or over analyze anything else. I will do my best to do what is NEEDED in regards to my family, myself, my children, my role as a wife, my calling as the Relief Society President, as a friend, as a volunteer at my boys school, as a daughter, as a sister and as a human being.

 

I am looking forward to a new year and a new word to focus on to help me become a better me.

New Year's Eve

I seriously can't believe that it is the last day of 2013. The year flew by!

One thing that has been very apparent, in my face if you will is that I do not have a lot of time left where I will have all of my children under my roof, all of the time. Tonight was just one more reminder. It is New Year's Eve and Tanner headed out with friends to have dinner and then went to a church dance. Carter went to a party with friends. That left John and I and the littles. While we had a great time, I missed Tanner and Carter and did not like not having them there! A little glimpse of the future and I am not ready for it!

 

I love to make a big deal out of the holidays. I like to make it fun and memorable for our children. I want our home to be a place that they want to be! In keeping up with traditions, I went to the party store and purchased helium balloons. As each balloon was filled, I tucked a piece of paper in each one. Each slip of paper had an activity to do each hour, on the hour, right up until midnight. We had our friends the Jones over. They have 4 boys too! They were also missing their older two!

 Helium balloons, ready and waiting to be popped!

 A token photo of all of our boys before they went in different directions.

 Carter stayed longed enough to pop the first balloon!

 The 6 p.m. activity was to bake cookies! Gotta have lots of treats.

Ready to pop another balloon.

 

 We played games.

 

We had a dance party with a little "running man."

 

The snake. I seriously think my kids could have been born in the 80's.

 My friend, Stephanie.

 Silly picture time. Another fun tradition..."2014 glasses."

 

 Banging pots and pans, blowing noise makers and popping poppers at midnight to ring in the new year! Don't worry, we aren't the hated neighbors. Most of our neighbors are out doing the same things. Traditions that I hope will live on forever! We had a great time and loved having the Jones family over to help us ring in the new year!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

We are ready for the New Year. We all say "Bring it on!"